"The Biggest Loser" Season 9 Week 3 recap: Action overload!

Tuesday

Jan 19, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 19, 2010 at 10:46 PM

Wow. When I said two weeks ago that I wanted more drama on "The Biggest Loser," I never expected to be buried in it like this.

Where do we start after a crazy Week 3 episode that had two contestants at odds with the trainers and two more at odds with each other and no fewer than three good candidates for The Villain of The Season?

Migdalia, a very angry young lady, threw a hissy fit unlike any I've seen on this show. Melissa threw the weigh-in AGAIN and wouldn't admit it, then stood on the scale and shrieked back and forth with Bob and Jillian.

Michael didn't come off as bad as the other two, but he is earning himself a reputation among his peers as a bit of a slacker. If not for his mom, Maria, he would have gone home this week. And deservedly so.

Maria and Michael fell below the yellow line, and like most mothers have done on this show, Maria fell on her sword to save her very large son.

Personally, I'm always irked when people act like they don't want to be on the show or don't appreciate how great an opportunity they've been granted. Migdalia, Melissa and Michael all gave me that impression. But there's something phony about Melissa that's been rubbing me the wrong way, so right now, she gets my Villain Vote.

This was Student-Teacher week -- I think it was the first; don't remember this happening before -- meaning that one member of each team was dubbed the Teacher and the remaining member was the Student. The Pink team got to decide who was who, because they won the Temptation.

It was a really lame Temptation. The Pink team needed only consume two M&Ms, or 10 calories, to win.

Anyway, the Teachers got to work out with the trainers, then come back and teach the Students what to do in the gym/kitchen/bathroom...just kidding about that last part. Here was the twist: Only the Students' weight loss would count at the weigh-in.

Melissa wasn't chosen to weigh in for the Red team, which will explain why her one-pound weight loss was looked on as fishy. More on that later...

MIGGY WATCH: The Pride of Pemberton, N.J., had a really rough week. Her daughter, Migdalia, busted out a big attitude problem from the very beginning of the episode. She got into an argument with Jillian in the gym, stormed out, and almost made the unthinkable mistake of shoving Jillian out of the way as she stomped to the dormitory. She also threatened to quit the show.

Miggy initially defended her daughter, but later helped talk some sense into her. It should be interesting to see how both of them soften their tough exteriors over the course of the show.

By the way, Miggy lost 7 pounds this week.

WEIGH-IN RESULTS: The Gray team threw a curveball to the White team, who thought Maria would weigh in this week. With their immunity, they earned the chance to switch one team's weigh-in representative, and they chose to switch Michael in for Maria because they felt he was slacking off in the gym. ...And sure enough, Michael didn't lose enough weight to keep his team safe! I'm sure that particular drama will continue for weeks to come.

Gray -- Sam lost 11 and Koli lost 13; Green -- Miggy lost 7 and Migdalia lost 8; Black -- Darrell lost 12 and Andrea lost 7; Orange -- Daris lost 9; Brown/Purple -- John lost 14 and Stephanie lost 7; Red -- Lance lost 12 and Melissa lost 1; White -- Maria lost 4 and Michael lost 10; Pink -- Sherry lost 6 and Ashley lost 12.

CHALLENGE: The Teachers wound a ribbon through a playground, and the Students had to race back and unravel the ribbon, blindfolded. The Gray team finished first and won precious immunity, as well as the chance to switch one team's Teacher/Student roles.

And now, for the Week 3 Bloggy Awards...

Clash of the Titans Award: Jillian and Migdalia, for reasons explained before. I don't think I have seen a bigger trainer/trainee conflict in my years of watching the show. Not since Kim Lyons and Amy What's-her-face, anyway. Jillian's run-in with Filipe and Sione from Season 7 did not compare.

Good Cop Award: Bob, who rushed in to talk sense to Migdalia and Miggy and got them not to quit the show. He ALWAYS takes the anti-Jillian contingent under his wing, and honestly, it kind of pisses me off. He never seems to defend Jillian, just act like he's Mr. Big Hero.

Game player Award: Melissa, who fudged her numbers at the weigh-in two weeks in a row. She gained a pound last week. Fool with us once, honey, we can shrug it off. Fool with us twice? You're competing for Least Favorite Contestant status. And winning...

It's OK to Cry Award: O'Neil of the Yellow team. We checked in with him a few times during this episode -- he and his daughter are spending 30 days at home in hopes of earning a ticket back to the ranch -- and he got all weepy each time.

I thought about also giving him the Stevie Wonder Award, because when he works out, he goes into a trance-like state in which he closes his eyes and bobs his head.

Cameo Award: Katharine McPhee, who appeared for a few seconds and sang a few notes during a promotion for the Pound for Pound Challenge.

Midwestern accent award: Andrea (Black). She sounds just like me!

Quotes of the week: "I know he knows what he's doing in the dark." -- Melissa, speaking about her husband, Lance, who had to go through the challenge blindfolded. She was talking about his experience as a commercial diver, but I choose to take it in the "That's what she said" way.

"We can't slack off because we have immunity. We slacked our whole lives and that's why we're fat." -- Either Sam or Koli, I don't know which. It was a member of the Gray team, though.

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